Copy Edit du Jour

At present, the university has 15 schools and 52 departments.

... changed to ...

The university has 15 schools and 52 departments.

Feels so good to do that ...

Moments in Copy Editing

As of now, the program is slated to continue till Dec. 1.

Changed to:

The program is slated to continue till Dec. 1.

"As of now" crops up in my own speech and writing. But I never realized today how detestable it is, at least in journalistic writing. (It's like I'm having some kind of hate epiphany.) In journalism, where economy of words is a virtue, "as of now" is ridiculously obvious and adds nothing but a speed bump.

Hope I can learn from this one ...